Nick Symmonds finished first at the 2015 USATF Outdoor Championships in the 800m.

In light of the recent sponsorship dispute between Nick Symmonds and USATF, Athlete Advisory Committee Chair Dwight Phillips thinks Symmonds’ argument would have been more powerful with the help of a collective athlete voice. 

 

“I think that his argument would have been more effective if it wasn’t just Nick Symmonds. If one person has a problem, it’s an issue but if you have 10, 15, 20, 30 people that have that same problem, then this is something that’s urgent and we have to address because it’s not just one person,” Phillips said over the phone. 

 

The dispute between Symmonds and USATF originated when the two-time Olympian refused to sign the Statement of Conditions required of all athletes competing for Team USA at the World Championships. The contract required that all athletes wear Nike-issued Team USA gear to all “team functions” while at the championships, a requirement that Symmonds felt violated his current contract with Brooks Running. The 2013 World Championship silver medalist was reportedly in negotiations with USATF CEO Max Seigel in an attempt to come to an understanding on the issue, but reached an impasse. 

 

USATF informed Symmonds that he had until noon on Sunday to sign the contract before he would be left off the team roster. Symmonds refused, citing the fact that he believed the contract to be too ambiguous, and as a result was left off the Team USA roster heading to Beijing. 

 

As the AAC Chair and four-time World Champion in the long jump, Phillips leads the committee that represents the collective athlete voice within United States Track & Field. He believes that change could have been made more effectively if Symmonds had approached the committee on the issue. 

 

“From my understanding he [Symmonds] had conversations with Max Seigel but he never presented us anything at the AAC so when something like this arises, when one person has a problem or an issue, we try to come to a resolution as the AAC Chair with our leaders and officers, but Nick never came to us. Nick went directly to Max Seigel and he went straight to the press,” Phillips said. 

 

The purpose of the AAC is to represent American athletes’ voices within the national governing body of track and field. It is a committee that meets once a year at the USATF Annual Meeting in December, where athletes can present issues as a collective group in order to implement change in the sport. 

 

“We would have loved to have had Nick come to us because there may have been other athletes that were willing to make that same sacrifice because ultimately, the athletes can change everything, one athlete can’t,” Phillips said. “But if we have collective athletes share the same sentiment, we can change a lot in our sport, but that’s not what’s happening.”

 

Phillips, a four-time World Champion and Olympic gold medalist in the long jump had the experience of representing Team USA multiple times, an experience which also included sponsorship conflicts. 
 

“I was a Nike athlete, but I had an adidas uniform that I had to wear on the podium. It wasn’t about me representing Nike or me representing adidas. It was about me representing all of our fore fathers that paved the way and gave me the opportunity to represent the United States,” Phillips explained.

“It was more about that, it wasn’t a selfish thing about money, it was more about my country, my family, the sacrifice and how hard it was for me to accomplish my goal," Phillips said. 

 

Since the news broke that Symmonds would not be competing at the World Championships, track as well as mainstream media outlets have covered the issue extensively and a social media frenzy has ensued between track athletes and fans with the hashtag #LetNickRun. Even a petition was created on Change.org for fans to vote on Symmonds competing at the World Championships. 

 

“He [Symmonds] doctored it to make him look like the victim and make USATF look like the bad guy and you know what? I would have done the exact same thing. If I have an argument, and I want to support my argument, I’m going to use whatever spin I have to do to support my argument,” Phillips said. “He had an argument, he has something that he believes strongly in and he’s standing by it, not backing down from anybody.”

 

Phillips responded to the growing issue with a release on the USATF Athletes Advisory Committee Facebook page with the hope of clarifying the opinion of the collective athlete voice. 
 

With the USATF Annual Meeting in Houston this December, the AAC will have the opportunity to meet in person and present a case to the USATF Board of Directors on changes, if any, that need to be made. 

 

“We [AAC] want to embrace change for the better. Every year since I can remember, we go to the Annual Meeting with the intention of raising hell and being chaotic, but we want to change that whole paradigm and make it more of a mission to change things and come to a resolution,” Phillips said. “That’s what the AAC is working so diligently to do so that we can make sure that the experience we have in Houston is going to be one to embrace change.”  

 

“We have a document that’s ambiguous, and I think we need to clarify that, and that’s just the bottom line. It has to be clarified,” Phillips explained. 

 

As of this week, Phillips said that he had had conversations with Seigel which indicated further discussion on a resolution between the dispute with Symmonds and USATF. Phillips himself believes that change is entirely possible with the right tactics, which do not involve the current social media feuds he has witnessed.

 

“I would like for us to come to a resolution together. Sometimes with social media, or going to the media and being at odds can be a huge detriment to our entire sport,” Phillips said. “There’s always some type of conflict going on in the sport and to the outside world and it makes us look like amateurs.” 

 

Despite the recent social media explosion that has taken place, Phillips stands by his belief that change can be made with a collective athlete voice, starting with the AAC at the Annual Meeting. 

 

“I think we need to provide a lot more clarity to our athletes, even USATF needs to be more transparent. All of our athletes, Nike or not, if they truly feel that we have a problem, we need to stand behind that. If we all sacrifice, we can gain an incredible life in our sport for the athletes," Phillips said. 

 

“If we just have one person sacrifice, we can start a spark for a fire, but we can cause a lot of havoc if we come together as athletes and make change. I truly believe that, I know it can happen," Phillips explained.